The Progressive National Military Strategy Posted by Jacob Stokes

If President Barack Obama had said in his State of Union address last month that U.S. military policy will “emphasize mutual responsibility and respect” or even hinted at “shifts in relative power,” his political enemies would have wiped the floor with him. But those concepts frame the U.S. National Military Strategy, a document put together by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that was released on Feb. 8. The document is indicative of a profound trend in U.S. foreign policy: that of the military adapting ideas American progressives have long advocated for.

The most of prominent of those ideas is what’s known as a “whole-of-government” approach, or the idea that problems should be solved using a combination of diplomacy, economic incentives, development aid and military power. Conservatives eschew this concept. Figures such as Mitt Romney continue to push for outsourcing all U.S. foreign policy to the Department of Defense and Republicans in Congress are making every effort to eviscerate civilian diplomatic and aid agencies by cutting their funding. 

Compare that to the NMS, which says the relative shift in power politics “requires America’s foreign policy to employ an adaptive blend of diplomacy, development, and defense,” explaining that, “leadership is how we exercise the full spectrum of power to defend our national interests.” That differing concept of how to use the various tools of American power dovetails with the NMS’s more modern conception of the strategic environment, which it says is “characterized more by shifting, interest-driven coalitions based on diplomatic, military, and economic power than by rigid security competition between opposing blocs.” Both the realization of need to integrate the tools of power and the realization of a new strategic environment reflect an understanding that military power alone won’t fix most 21^st-century problems.

Progressives have long been espousing this worldview, and have implemented it successfully with the cobbling together of an international sanctions regime on Iran. Put that up against the outdated conservative viewpoints on display during the debate on the New START Treaty, where conservatives proved themselves incapable of moving past zero-sum Cold War thinking. The military understands that viewpoint is outdated; that’s why they supported the treaty. 

Moving along, the document’s approach to terrorism is nuanced, focusing as much on removing the sources of terrorism as combating its symptoms. The NMS explains that military power “complements economic development, governance and rule of law” as “true bedrocks of counterterrorism efforts.” And goes on to say that a “disciplined application of force is consistent with our values and international law” as well as being effective. That’s the approach progressives have held up as an alternative to the militaristic, “clash of civilizations” approach perpetrated by many on the Right. 

When it comes to strategic effects of climate change -- which many conservatives continue to doubt the existence of, much less the need to take action on – the NMS notes that, “The challenge of global climate change combined with increased population centers in or near coastal environments may challenge the ability of weak or developing states to respond to natural disasters.” The NMS also notes that forces “will require a smaller logistical footprint in part by reducing fuel and energy demands,” a nod to the greening of the American military. 

The document contains similarly a enlightened sense of the importance of fiscal security, arguing that the “national debt poses a significant national security risk,” an idea Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen has pushed on several occasions, and which is often used by progressives as evidence that cuts in defense spending make national security sense.

Finally, the National Military Strategy recognizes the role of “soft power” in American leadership that even some progressives have found too “soft” to advocate for themselves (often opting instead for the term “smart power.”) It says, “Our focus on leadership, not simply power, necessitates that we emphasize our values and our people as much as our platforms and capabilities.” 

Strategizing to make the most of America’s relatively diminished role. Embracing a whole-of-government approach. Using diplomacy to build international coalitions to combat threats. Fixing the underlying causes of terrorism. Planning for climate change. Fostering the power of America’s example -- reading the National Military Strategy of the United States of America, it sounds like progressives have made significant gains in the war of worldviews against conservatives when it comes to military power.

Comments

[Steve]

If your thesis is that National Military Strategy has become "progressive" only recently, or under Obama, you ignore military history.

Politicians (of all ideologies) aside, National Military Strategy has always considered the importance of the interaction between soft and hard power. And it has always viewed military power as a last resort, not a first. (You might want to study the Weinberger - Powell doctrines of war fighting). War is a failure of all other political means. Clausewitz wrote of this in the 18th century.

I served for 25 years in the military (1972-1995) and these basic concepts have not changed since the day I first enlisted. The military serves at the will of the civilian government, Congress and the President, and has always been at the forefront of social progress and awareness. We had required race relations training in 1973. I'll bet not many civilian organizations had such. This was not for some altruistic idea or social justice, but to ensure that the military could carry out its mission, though it was the right thing to do. Mission failure was never an option. The U.S. military has never failed at military missions; only political whims and idiocy has prevented overall success of a national strategy, as bad as they have been in recent years.

In my experience, the U.S. Military has always been "green," as much as we could be, to stretch limited resources to the maximum. If the current leaders in the Pentagon want to put the climate change label on it, it won't change the fact that energy has always been an important mix of resource management.

None of what you write about here is "news" to any of us who have been, or still are, professional warriors.

One note: You perpetuate violent rhetoric by using the term enemies to describe Obama's opponents. I may disagree with many of his ideas, but he is not the "enemy." Nor am I his enemy.

In the end, those of us who were responsible for creating or implementing our military strategies and tactics never had anything to do with liberalism or conservativism, but of how best to project military power, whether soft or hard.

But I'm glad that you are paying attention to and discussing important ideas that have been around for a long, long time in military circles.

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